An Evening with The Land Gardeners: From Soil to Table

Join us for a conversation and book signing with The Land Gardeners to celebrate their new book ‘Soil to Table,’ which highlights the link between the health of our soils and the food we eat.

Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy established The Land Gardeners to research plant and soil health through growing, cutting and designing. Their mission is to work with gardeners and farmers to heal our soils, plants and planet.

‘Soil to Table’ was created in partnership with chef Lulu Cox, with paintings by artist Nancy Cadogan. The collaboration underlines the importance of ethically sourced ingredients and promotes a holistic relationship to food, land and soil. The book is filled with advice on how to nurture healthy soil, as well as connecting food recipes.

Talk and Book Signing in the Radić Pavilion 6 – 7.30 pm 

Chaired by Emily Tobin, Deputy Editor at The World of Interiors, the panel of speakers includes gardeners Henrietta Courtauld, Bridget Elworthy and Mark Dumbelton, artist Nancy Cadogan and photographer Hugo Rittson-Thomas. The talk will take place from 6 – 7 pm, followed by a book signing.

Our current exhibition, ‘Henry Moore. Sharing Form’, will also remain open until 6 pm across our gallery and outdoor spaces.

Tickets for this event are £5 per person and must be booked in advance. All the proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to social and therapeutic horticulture charity The Growing Space, one of the local charities Hauser & Wirth Somerset is supporting this year.

Following the talk and book signing, there will be a guest chef dinner with Lulu Cox at Roth Bar & Grill from 7.45 pm. The three-course dinner will include recipes from ‘Soil to Table’, with welcome drinks served from 7 pm. For more information please visit Roth Bar & Grill’s website.

Image (left to right): Bridget Elworthy, Henrietta Courtauld, Nancy Cadogan, Hugo Rittson-Thomas and Mark Dumbelton

About Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy established The Land Gardeners in 2012 to research plant and soil health. Their aim is to work with gardeners and farmers to improve the health of the land—creating healthy plants, gardens and farms brimming with biodiversity and life—all founded on healthy soil.

The Land Gardeners run an organic cut flower business from their garden in Oxfordshire, where they design gardens, as well as making and selling microbial compost to gardeners and farmers. They have written three books: ‘Clive Nichols: English Gardens’ (2015), ‘The Land Gardeners Cut Flowers’ (2019), and ‘The Land Gardeners Soil to Table’ (2022).

About Nancy Cadogan Nancy Cadogan is a British figurative painter. Her 2019 acclaimed solo exhibition ‘Mind Zero’ at the Saatchi Gallery was described by the Evening Standard as ‘heaven on a canvas’. In 2020, Cadogan combined her love of literature with art in an exhibition commissioned by the Keats Shelley House Museum to celebrate Keats’ bicentenary in Rome. Her 2022  solo exhibition ‘The Still Point’, celebrated the simplicity and beauty of the everyday and the often-forgotten joyfulness of solitude.

Cadogan collaborated with The Land Gardener’s for their latest book ‘Soil to Table’ which features paintings from Cadogan’s November 2021 show ‘All the Good Things’. These paintings capture our relationship with nature, food and landscape.

About Hugo Rittson-Thomas Hugo Rittson-Thomas is a British portrait, nature and interiors photographer, famed for his portrait series of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duchess of Cornwall for his book ‘The Queen’s People’ (Assouline, 2016). Other notable portraits include the Dalai Lama, Sting, Hans-Olrich Obrist, David Cameron and Kylie Minogue.

Rittson-Thomas’s work has been exhibited at institutions including The Garden Museum, Philip Mould & Company Art Gallery, The Truman Brewery, Blue Gallery, Maison Assouline, Gallery No-11, Lux Hoxton Square and South Kensington Club. He has photographed six books: Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds (2015), Great Gardens of London (2015), The Queen’s People (2016), Secret Gardeners: Britain’s Creatives Reveal Their Private Sanctuaries (2017), Wildflowers for the Queen (2021) and English Country House Style (2021).

About Mark Dumbelton Mark Dumbleton has been the Head Gardener at Hauser & Wirth Somerset since 2014 and works closely with internationally-renowned landscape designer Piet Oudolf. He maintains Oudolf Field, our 1.5-acre meadow situated behind the gallery buildings, which contains over 30,000 herbaceous perennials, and is passionate about sustainability and soil ecosystems.